People reflected in the window line up at a post office as they wait to use the Internet in Havana, 2013. Image credit: Ramon Espinosa/The Associated Press.

Cuba steps into a new period in communications

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt held a meeting with Mayra Arevich Marin, the director of Cuba’s main telecommunication company, which handles every Internet connection and phone service in the island. The deal will have Google providing its “Global Cache” to the island’s users. This allows for much faster queries and processes as it will reduce the time taken by the island’s servers to retrieve information held by Google. This will include Android services, YouTube, Google search, Chrome, Google Play Music, and most products offered by the company.

Google is not the only company working for connectivity in Cuba, seeing that AT&T and T-Mobile have already been noticed working with Cuba’s telecommunications company to allow tourists to use their mobile services while they visit the island.

“This deal allows ETECSA to use our technology to reduce latency by caching some of our most popular high-bandwidth content like YouTube videos at a local level. This means Cubans who already have access to the internet and want to use our services can expect to see an improvement in terms of quality of service and reduced latency for cached content,” Google posted on its blog.

The first incursion in Cuba by Google occurred in 2014 when the company was allowed to provide Cubans with Google Chrome, Google Play, and Google Analytics.

With each passing month, Cubans are entitled to a higher degree of freedom in communication. Although most of these new measures are intended for tourists who visit the island, the truth is that the renewal of Cuba-U.S. relations will open the gates for a new generation of tourism and economic services that will allow the island to revisit its past events as a paradise for Americans.

During the Batista regime, before the Cuban Revolution took place, America was deeply involved in relations with the dictatorial government. Cuba was perceived as the island of excess plagued by the works of the Mafia, prostitution, and gambling. The society that lived under the Batista regime was noted by journalists as “as hopelessly corrupt, a Mafia playground, a bordello for Americans and other foreigners.” Cuba was overflowing with casinos and hotels, which allowed it to be the perfect getaway for Americans that wished to give in to their desires.

Now the island is starting to see a new light after half a century of violent persecutions, civil war, the Cold War, oppression, and worldwide influence.